Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Shogi Champion Turns to Chess

Posted by michael on from the games-for-geeks dept.

FFriedel writes "Michael Jordan tried it with baseball, and it, like, didn't work out too well for him. But what about a professional Shogi champion switching to chess? Yoshiharu Habu, one of the most gifted players in the history of the ancient Japanese game, has taken a casual interest in chess - and already reached IM strength. He is currently playing in a tournament in Paris, where chess grandmaster Joel Lautier interviewed him." Shogi is a very odd game if you're used to chess. Most of the pieces have biases toward forward motion, and when you capture an enemy piece, you can bring it back into play for your side.

5 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. On the net by petis · · Score: 5, Informative

    If anyone wants to play some Chess, Xiangqi (chinese chess), Go or some other boardgames online then you should check out this site. Unfortunately they don't have Shogi (yet).

  2. Re:It's like ya know..... by psaltes · · Score: 2, Informative

    I know no one actually cares, since its funnier just to laugh at it, but 'like' is a perfectly normal discourse marker used for a variety of purposes. It is completely abnormal to speak without such things, and where I am from (new england) everyone 35 years old uses 'like' in conversational speech.

  3. GNUShogi by Pekka+Lampila · · Score: 2, Informative

    GNUShogi:
    http://www.gnu.org/directory/gnushogi.h tml

    XShogi:
    http://www.gnu.org/software/xshogi/xsho gi.html

    GNUShogi comes with tutorial.

    I think you can quess the license.

  4. Re:It's like ya know..... by FFriedel · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ahh, ONE person who understood.

    First some clarification: I am a very poor otb (=over the board) chess player, my highest rating ever was about 2000 as a 19-year-old. I speak exactly two languages, English (my first) and German, but both of them proficiently enough to write and publish in. I am a computer chess expert but not a programmer. Garry has been a close friend since 1985.

    In my news blurbs on the main ChessBase page I try to make every item at least theoretically amusing or interesting to visitors, even if they are not chess players. Quite a daunting task, you must admit.

    Initially I wrote "Michael Jordan tried it with baseball - it, er, did not work out." An Italian visitor drew attention to the "typo". So I changed it to "it, well, didn't work out". But then I remembered this incredible turn of phrase used by American kids these days. I had recently discussed the exact meaning and usage with an American colleague, Rudy Chelminsky of Wired et al., who abhors it's current prevalence. Rudy also introduced me to the really crass form: he was like "Never ever use it, Fred!"

    So I changed it again. And apparently it worked. Look at the number of posting here dedicated to one word. That's good Fleet Steet technique - get them to look twice. And I learnt a new technical term: valley girl speak. I wondered why the Fullbright students here in Germany never use it. They're like all from New England!

  5. Re:Shogi and Go by dustman · · Score: 2, Informative

    And chess can be played until infinity as far as I know, though I don't really involve myself with the game that much. Picture a board with only 2 kings and a rook on it; either player can keep it going on to infinity.

    Yeah, I guess you don't involve yourself with the game much... This is an elementary forced win for the guy with the rook :)